Federer Crushes Goffin To Reach US Open Quarter-Finals

Roger Federer advanced to the US Open quarter-finals for the 13th time in his past 15 attempts Sunday by defeating Belgian 15th seed David Goffin 6-2, 6-2, 6-0.

The 38-year-old Swiss third seed, trying to stretch his men’s Grand Slam record title total to 21, took only 79 minutes to book a quarter-final berth against the winner of a later match between Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and Australia’s Alex de Minaur.

“It was great. I thought I had a good feeling out here,” Federer said. “David didn’t have his best day either, he was struggling.”

Serbia’s Djokovic, a 16-time Grand Slam champion who has captured four of the past five Slam crowns, is 19-5 against Wawrinka but they have not played since the Swiss defeated Djokovic in the 2016 US Open final.

Also playing later is Russian fifth seed Daniil Medvedev, who won at Cincinnati in the last major US Open tuneup event. Medvedev was fined $9,000 for an obscene gesture and unsportsmanlike conduct in a third-round victory, his third fine in three matches at Flushing Meadows.

Federer, who improved to 9-1 in his career rivalry with Goffin, is 7-0 lifetime against 78th-ranked Dimitrov but has never faced 38th-ranked De Minaur.

Five-time US Open champion Federer’s Open Era Slam quarter-finals record grew to 56 and he matched Andre Agassi’s second-best US Open total of 13 quarter-finals — second only to 17 by Jimmy Connors — in a dominant performance at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Goffin broke in the third game of the match and Federer responded by winning the next five games to seize the opening set in 26 minutes, 11 of the next 13 to grab command of the affair inside of an hour, and 17 of the final 19 in stunningly rapid fashion.

“I was down in the score earlier,” Federer said. “Obviously you have to come back. I was too down on myself.

“In a way I feel bad about beating up on a friend like David. I hope he has a better end of the year.”